1970 AMC Javelin Mark Donahue Edition

The 1970 AMC Javelin was a serious contender in the Canadian muscle car field.

To tell the Javelin story properly one has to start at the beginning. In the beginning there was Rambler. Rambler was the phenomenal North American automobile success story in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

In the United States, Rambler was need of an image change by the mid-1960s. People weren't buying Ramblers anymore. Rambler had somehow gone from being the chic car of choice for the smart and thrifty consumer to representing a vehicle owned by losers. 

In Canada, the situation was not the same. Canadians appreciated the value that Rambler represented and production at the Brampton, Ontario plant rose steadily from 1961 to 1970 (though there were very slight dips in 1965 and 1969).

The 1965 Marlin by Rambler was imported into Canada from Kenosha, Wisconsin.

The pony car revolution was in full swing in 1964 and though American Motors fielded a fastback model called the Marlin for 1965, no one was fooled by its origins. Marlin was a feeble attempt to enter the market when compared to Ford's hot new Mustang. 

Marlin was nothing more than a sensible Rambler Classic with a dramatic fastback. People didn't buy Marlins. They were fish out of water. Dropping the Rambler name from the fastback for the 1966 model year didn't seem to help either. Marlin grew larger for 1967 but even fewer sold.

In its third and final year on the market, Marlin now shared its body shell with Ambassador.

What American Motors needed was a hot-to-trot muscle car that could take on the likes of Mustang, Camaro and Barracuda. Fortunately there was such an animal being readied in AMC's styling studios on Plymouth Road in Detroit.

The 1968 Javelin was all business on streets and racetracks.

Charles (Chuck) Machigan was the designer in charge of the programme and worked in the advanced studio under the direction of the Vice President of Design, Richard (Dick) Teague. Javelin was incredibly beautiful with its deeply-recessed venturi grille, a bold-look bumper and uncluttered styling. Although its wheelbase was only three centimetres longer than Ford's Mustang, Javelin's long deck and crouched-cat rear proportions were altogether lovely.

Interior designers, under the direction of Don Stumpf, made sure that Javelin was particularly commodious in rear seating when  compared to the back seats of other pony cars, all of which were notoriously skimpy and uncomfortable.

The 1967 Rambler American was a no-nonsense, high-value compact in the Canadian market.

Javelin was derived from econo-box Rambler American's mechanicals, just as Mustang's underpinnings came from the Ford Falcon. Both pony cars were endowed with many power options not available to their lesser kin. Both offered trusty six-cylinder engines as standard equipment but both could be powered upward.

Dealers and salesmen had to be specially trained to sell the Javelin. Comfortable selling sensible cars to older customers, Rambler dealers did not know how to talk to kids, nor did they know the language of racing.

The 1954 Nash-Healey.

AMC hadn't had a serious sports car on showroom floors since the Nash-Healey two-seater some fifteen years earlier. People needed to know how to relate to the youth market and not offend those young people who came in to shop for a Javelin. AMC dealers were taken to special Javelin races and introduced to a whole new world.

Javelin sales were great. AMC brass figured the car would be success if production hit 45,000 units. To their delight and astonishment more than 56,000 Javelins scooted out the doors.

In the US, Javelins were marketed in conjunction with Hugh Hefner's Playboy clubs. Neil Gaskin was AMC Canada's VP of Sales and knew that the Playboy Club image would not sit well with Canadian consumers. Besides, there weren't any Playboy Clubs in Canada, so he dreamt up another scheme.

Gaskin ordered a genuine Olympic javelin from a concern in New York City, the only place he could find one. "It was heavy," he called. Then he hired a "Javelin Girl." Christine Demeter was the model who wore the skimpy cave girl outfit and posed, javelin in hand, next to the muscle car. Gaskin recalled that the shoot was along Highway 400, north of Toronto--still under construction at the time. The background of gravel and raw earth lent itself perfectly to the shots.

The Javelin Girl campaign appeared in both English and French publicity. Dealers were given life-sized cardboard standups of Christine to place next to Javelins on showroom floors.

Sadly, the stint at American Motors was one of the last modelling jobs that Christine Demeter ever had. The 33-year old model was murdered by her husband shortly after--in a fashion so brutal and lurid that her death became a best-selling book and a murder-mystery movie on the CBC.

There was little to do in Javelin's second year but sell more of them. Javelin script on the grille was replaced  by a bull's eye and the stripes were redesigned. More woodgrain appeared on the instrument panel and in the interiors. 

Both Javelin and AMX were available in Big Bad Colours in 1969.

For the 1969 selling season, Big Bad Colours were introduced for Javelin and AMX. Big Bad Blue, Big Bad Green and Big Bad Orange were just too mod for words.  Despite the tweaking, sales dropped by some 14,000 units as the market was over-saturated and insurance companies were hiking rates on the pony car segment of the market.

In 1970 Javelin underwent a mild facelift to become six centimetres longer and three centimetres lower. Now it shared a common front bumper, parking light position and hood with AMX. 

Piloted by Peter Revson, this Javelin Trans-Am races in St. Jovite, Quebec on August 2nd, 1970.

A hundred Trans-Am Javelins were assembled under the watchful eye of industrial designer, Brooks Stevens who made sure the cars met the rules of the Sports Car Club of America. In 1970 the SCAA changed the rules to a minimum of 2,500 units of a car being built in order to compete in the club's events.

AMC responded with 2,501 copies of the Mark Donahue Javelin. Most sported a specially-cast, thick-walled 5.9-litre  (360-cubic inch) V8 engine with a 290-horsepower rating. They came with an aerodynamic duck-tail spoiler designed by Donahue himself. The race driver's distinctively bold signature appears on the right-hand side of the spoiler.

The two-seater AMX was deleted at the end of the 1970 model-year run but Javelin was given a major restyle and would soldier on racetracks for several more glorious seasons. 

Visit my old car website at: The Oilspot Eh!

Copyright James C. Mays 2000
All rights reserved.

1956 Ford Thunderbird

 The 1956 Ford Thunderbird weighed in at 1 400 kilos (3,088 pounds) with the optional hardtop and sold for $4,344 f.o.b. Oakville, Ontario.

North Americans' post-war fling with the two-seater, European-style sports car was pretty much over by 1955—well the manufacturers were ready to wash their hands, anyway. It was a niche that was simply too small to justify. 

1954 Nash-Healey.

Nash had been first to market with its American-Anglo hybrid in 1951 but the race-winning, stunningly breathtaking Nash-Healey, with body by Italian design master Pinin Farina, had proven to be a most expensive venture. Some estimates showed that as much as $9,000 was lost on the sale on each of the $6,000 beauties. 

1954 Kaiser Darrin.

The pretty Kaiser-Darrin generated little interest. Named for designer Howard "Dutch" Darrin, the fibreglass-bodied car was striking but consumers were afraid to buy a car that might be come an orphan.

 Kaiser-Frazier, the upstart, post-war company built on the ashes of the failed Hupp and Graham-Paige enterprises, was about to expire. K-F would shortly pull the plug on the North American market, move to Brazil and successfully build vehicles there.

1955 Chevrolet Corvette

 The boys at Chevrolet were more than ready to chuck the slow selling plastic-bodied Corvette. The dream car had first appeared at GM's 1953 Motorama. Six months later the two-seater went into production. The availability of only a six-cylinder engine mated to the Power Glide two-speed automatic transmission was disappointing to buyers and sales were dismal. Just as General Motors was ready to axe the car, Ford unexpectedly fielded a smartly styled Thunderbird for the 1955 model year.

The designers in Dearborn built a beauty and wrapped it in a package that--like baby bear's porridge--was just right. Nash and Kaiser didn’t take a second kick at the can but Chevrolet’s staff studied the T-Bird and decided to spare the axe and  improve its bowtie roadster. Engineers and stylists had a lot to study; Thunderbird was most impressive.

 The Thunderbird Special V-8 generated 225 horsepower.

First, the Bird moved courtesy of a sweet V-8. There were reports of “screaming acceleration” and “flying high-speed runs” when the car was worked out on test tracks. With a 4.7-litre (292-cubic inch) mill, aided by a four-barrel carb and dual exhausts it should have taken first place at the National Speed Championships at Daytona Beach in the unlimited competition for acceleration—and it did. The fast Ford beat both American and European cars in all prices and classes.

All that power could be mated to the Ford-O-matic transmission or to a manual transmission with Overdrive or Conventional Drive. All promised high-performance motoring and not just for the men folk. Ford wanted to put women behind the wheel, too. Advertising bragged, “In traffic, these V-8s are as docile as a lady could desire.”

1955 Ford Fairlane.

Secondly, the 2 590-millimetre (102-inch) wheelbased Thunderbird didn’t look like a European sports car. Deliberately North American in appearance, Thunderbird carried a very strong resemblance to the rest of the Ford family. It even shared taillights and headlight bezels with bigger Fords. Its interior was dressed to the nines with luxurious vinyl fabrics and ritzy touches not commonly seen in sports cars.

1955 Ford Thunderbird.

In fact, Ford's advertising was careful not to call the Thunderbird a sports car at all. Despite a monstrous engine, precision handling and superior road-holding stability, the emphasis was on marketing Thunderbird as a “distinguished personal car,” designed for people who had a special appreciation for advanced design and custom craftsmanship. This was further emphasized with statements like: “For the first time Thunderbird combines the superior roadability and dashing flair long attributed to foreign sports cars with the American idea of what constitutes practical transportation.”

Canadians got to see the 1955 Thunderbird when it was unveiled at dealerships on November 13, 1954. There weren’t a lot of other cars on hand in the showrooms; workers at Ford of Canada were on strike. Being imported from the USA, Thunderbird production were not affected by the work stoppage in the Windsor and Oakville plants.

Sales opportunities for Thunderbirds were limited to folks willing to lay down $4,090 in cash or to finance the amount. A six-passenger Ford Mainline Tudor sedan sold for $2,152. The plain-Jane, however, did not have the snob appeal or the pizzazz of the snazzy two-seat hardtop coupe. Ford could and would sell wheels to both markets.

While styling was definitely North American, the Ferrari-like grille gave the 1956 Thunderbird a European flavour.

When Thunderbird returned for the 1956 season, it arrived with a minor trim shuffle and some real improvements. The big visible news was the continental spare tire kit and a porthole window to punctuate the massive C-pillar in the hardtop.  Cowl vents adorned the slab sides and made the interiors much cooler than before.  Almost unnoticed and virtually unmentioned was the change from 6-volt to 12-volt electrical systems.

 First seen in the 1950 Nash, Ford adopted seatbelts for 1956 as a safety measure.

Thunderbird was given the Lifeguard Design safety feature package adopted by all Ford, Mercury and Lincoln cars for 1956. Researchers at Cornell University documented that automobile safety had not improved within the last decade. Ford saw the challenge as a marketing opportunity and pulled together a safety package. 

Instrument panel padding of a space age material, proven to be five times more shock absorbent than foam rubber, was introduced. A deep-centre, Y-shaped steering wheel was created to lessen injury upon impact should the driver be thrown into the steering column. Double-grip door latches reduced the possibility of doors flying open and occupants being thrown from the vehicle during an accident. Finally, seat belts were introduced as a way of restraining passengers securely within the cabin. For this, Motor Trend magazine would award Ford its first ever Car of the Year Award.

 Interior of the 1956 Ford Thunderbird was as sleek and racy as its exterior.

The Thunderbird’s cabin was nothing short of sumptuous with a dazzling engine-turned aluminum strip to set off the instrument panel. A tachometer and an electric clock flanked the Astra-Dial speedometer that showed a tantalizing top speed of 150 miles per hour. Interiors were swank with plush vinyl upholstery; colour choices were white on black, red, tan, green, brown or peacock.

Colour choices for the Thunderbird’s second year were Raven Black, Colonial White, Buckskin Tan, Fiesta Red, Peacock Blue, Goldenglow Yellow, Thunderbird Gray, Sunset Coral and Thunderbird Green. In addition, 15 two-tone combinations were offered at the outset of the season and that was revised to 13 two-tone colour combos later in the year. The glass-fibre top could be had with or without a porthole window this year. It was offered in black or white or was available in a colour to match the body.

Cutaway view of the 1956 Thunderbird.

Optional equipment for one’s T-Bird included Swift Sure Power Brakes, Master-Guide Power Steering, 4-Way Power Seat, Power-Lift Windows; a convertible fabric top, a  tonneau cover, the Lifeguard instrument panel padding and cushioned sun visors; seat belts, the I-Rest tinted safety glass; turn signals; Auto-Wipe windshield washers; special fuel-and-vacuum pump unit; a full-flow oil filter; an engine dress-up kit; Ford-O-matic transmission or Overdrive; MagicAire heater; radio; rear fender shields; full-wheel covers; wire-wheel covers and whitewall tires.

Thunderbird did well on the market, outselling Corvette by a four-to-one margin. The triumphant T-bird would return for a third year with big changes that would make it even more popular.

  

Visit my old car website at: The Oilspot Eh!

Copyright James C. Mays 2006
All rights reserved.